DENVER (AP)—The Denver Nuggets lost their best defenders this summer when they let Eduardo Najera and Marcus Camby get away.
So, what was all the talk about Monday on the eve of training camp?
Defense.
Denver’s never been known for its `D’, but coach George Karl said players and coaches alike will focus on defense this season after spending the last two years trying to match the Phoenix Suns’ up-tempo style.
He plans to change the team’s culture with a slew of new high-energy young players and a renewed commitment from his veterans.
That starts with Carmelo Anthony, whom he trusts will bring with him the lessons he learned from the U.S. Olympic team that rode its tenacious defense to the gold medal in Beijing.
“Our offense is there. Look, this man right here’s got over 20,000 points,” Anthony said, motioning toward Allen Iverson. “I know I can score with the best of ‘em. But that’s really not an issue for us right now. We’ve got to stop people.”
Anthony said all the stopping starts with him.
“You will see a different me,” he promised.
A leader. A stopper. A rebounder. Whatever it takes. Hustling back to the paint, funneling a player toward the help.
Anthony, who also has a national championship at Syracuse to his credit, still smarts when critics bring up his notoriously soft defense. He knows as the team’s superstar, though, he sets the tone and is its lightning rod.
“If I can stop five people out there on the court myself then I’d be the best to ever play this basketball team,” Anthony said. “There’s no ‘I’ in defense. The only thing I can concentrate on is my man and help the other four players on my team. I know I can play defense.”
And he’s certain his teammates can, too.
After a fifth consecutive first-round flop in the playoffs, the Nuggets lost Najera to the New Jersey Nets in free agency and traded Camby, the league’s top shot-blocker and a former defensive player of the year, to the Los Angeles Clippers for basically nothing in return except salary cap relief.
“I know a lot of people are saying that our defense left when Marcus Camby left,” Anthony said. “So, I think that gives us motivation to go out there and prove to everybody that we are going to come together as a team and play defense.
“I’m pretty sure you guys will see a different defensive team this year from the Denver Nuggets.”
The Nuggets averaged 110 points last season but they allowed 107, and the porous defense led to another first-round exit from the playoffs when the Los Angeles Lakers rendered them the first 50-win team to get swept in the postseason.
Karl, an old-fashioned, defensive-minded coach who has spent his last decade in the NBA watching his teams in Milwaukee and Denver light up the scoreboard and more often than not fail to sprint back to the paint to deny baskets, said this team is the faster, quicker and more athletic than any one he’s coached in Denver.
Iverson, known more for his ballhandling skills than his steals, said he’s willing to commit to playing better defense, too.
“I’ve been in this league going on my 13th year and I’ve been to the finals once. I would have thought I’d have been there five or six times by now and won a championship,” Iverson said. “So, obviously, the commitment is there from me to sacrifice my game, do whatever the team needs me to do.”
Karl isn’t expecting miracles, just movement.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
James confident he can lead Cavaliers to NBA crown
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP)—LeBron James keeps his Olympic gold medal in his home office, and from time to time Cleveland’s star takes a peek at it.
“It’s a pretty sight,” he said.
James spent part of his summer helping the U.S. basketball team redeem its global superiority by winning it all at the Beijing Games. At just 23, he was the undisputed leader of that 12-player squad comprised of superstar talents and supersized egos.
“If you can lead 11 of the best guys in the world, you can lead anybody,” James said Monday. “If I can lead Kobe Bryant and MVPs, I should be able to lead Daniel Gibson.”
James has visions of another exquisite, glittering prize—the NBA championship trophy. And he thinks it’s within the Cavaliers’ reach.
“As a leader, I think I can lead these guys to the championship,” he said. “We really believe that. It’s not about making the playoffs for our team anymore. It’s about winning a championship.”
The Cavaliers have come close. Two years ago, they made their first trip to the finals before being overwhelmed and swept in four straight by the San Antonio Spurs. Last season, they pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals but lost.
This year, the Cavs, who acquired point guard Mo Williams this summer in a trade from Milwaukee, feel they can finish the job.
“We all have one goal, and that’s a championship,” said Williams, who averaged 17.2 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds for the Bucks. “That’s the goal, and we’re not just talk. Every team in the league on media day is saying they are going to win a championship. But we’re confident. We know that if we put in the work and focus, we can do it. It’s all we talk about.”
On the eve of opening training camp, Cleveland is already in better shape than it was at the same point last year.
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron Ja… AP - Sep 29, 6:26 pm EDT
James seems to have already developed a strong bond with Williams, who scored a season-high 37 points against the Cavaliers last season.
“Mo Williams is an unbelievable talent,” James said. “You can watch any film of what he did to us last year in four games. It was like, ‘Wow, he either has something against us or he’s sending up smoke signals to go get him in a trade.”
Williams is the best point guard Cleveland has had since James arrived, and with him on the floor, the Cavs should be able to play at a faster pace than in previous years. James wishes all the talk would stop.
“It’s a pretty sight,” he said.
James spent part of his summer helping the U.S. basketball team redeem its global superiority by winning it all at the Beijing Games. At just 23, he was the undisputed leader of that 12-player squad comprised of superstar talents and supersized egos.
“If you can lead 11 of the best guys in the world, you can lead anybody,” James said Monday. “If I can lead Kobe Bryant and MVPs, I should be able to lead Daniel Gibson.”
James has visions of another exquisite, glittering prize—the NBA championship trophy. And he thinks it’s within the Cavaliers’ reach.
“As a leader, I think I can lead these guys to the championship,” he said. “We really believe that. It’s not about making the playoffs for our team anymore. It’s about winning a championship.”
The Cavaliers have come close. Two years ago, they made their first trip to the finals before being overwhelmed and swept in four straight by the San Antonio Spurs. Last season, they pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals but lost.
This year, the Cavs, who acquired point guard Mo Williams this summer in a trade from Milwaukee, feel they can finish the job.
“We all have one goal, and that’s a championship,” said Williams, who averaged 17.2 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds for the Bucks. “That’s the goal, and we’re not just talk. Every team in the league on media day is saying they are going to win a championship. But we’re confident. We know that if we put in the work and focus, we can do it. It’s all we talk about.”
On the eve of opening training camp, Cleveland is already in better shape than it was at the same point last year.
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron Ja… AP - Sep 29, 6:26 pm EDT
James seems to have already developed a strong bond with Williams, who scored a season-high 37 points against the Cavaliers last season.
“Mo Williams is an unbelievable talent,” James said. “You can watch any film of what he did to us last year in four games. It was like, ‘Wow, he either has something against us or he’s sending up smoke signals to go get him in a trade.”
Williams is the best point guard Cleveland has had since James arrived, and with him on the floor, the Cavs should be able to play at a faster pace than in previous years. James wishes all the talk would stop.
Slimmer O’Neal expecting big things from Raptors
TORONTO (AP)—Jermaine O’Neal sweated through endless hours of workouts this summer, but those sessions were a breeze compared to breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Told to drop a few pounds to take some weight off his surgically repaired left knee, O’Neal cut sugar, bread and dairy products out of his diet for eight weeks. The Toronto Raptors center called it “the biggest challenge” of his offseason.
“They felt that it would be important for me, because I was really top-heavy the last two years, to trim down and take some of the pressure off my knees,” O’Neal said Monday at Raptors media day. “They told me 10-12 pounds would be the ideal weight for my knee to stay healthy, to be able to actually elevate and get my explosion back. I did that, and I feel exactly what they were talking about.”
Still, the steady diet of broccoli, carrots and green beans grew a little tiresome, leaving O’Neal longing for his favorite treats.
“When you wake up in the morning, you don’t want to eat oatmeal with no sugar everyday,” O’Neal said. “You want the French toast, you want the pancakes, you want that stuff. I struggled through that but I got through it.”
O’Neal, acquired from Indiana in a July trade that sent point guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and draft pick Roy Hibbert to the Pacers, missed 40 games last season because of lingering pain from a torn ligament in his left knee that was surgically repaired the previous summer.
The dietary regimen and the hours in the gym were part of O’Neal’s desire to pay back Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo for providing him with a fresh start.
“Bryan really stuck his neck out for me,” O’Neal said. “I’m willing to do what I need to do to make him look good about the trade.”
Colangelo said O’Neal’s rebounding ability “changes the entire dynamic of what we’ve got,” making this the best squad he’s had since joining the Raptors in February, 2006 “In terms of core talent, yes, I’d have to think that this is the best,” Colangelo said. “At every position, we’ve got the talent that we feel we can compete.”
Having reached his target weight, the slimmed-down O’Neal allowed himself a reward.
“I had two cupcakes,” he said. “Very good. Two Red Devil cupcakes. I enjoyed it.”
His sweet tooth satisfied and his body in shape, O’Neal will open his first training camp with the Raptors on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda is figuring out how best to team up with U.S. Olympian Chris Bosh in the Toronto frontcourt.
“I think we’re all excited, just in the potential that he brings to this team,” Bosh said of O’Neal, a six-time All-Star. “If we get on the same page, I think we can do a lot of big things.”
Bosh has only played against O’Neal during informal scrimmages this week, but that will change when training camp begins in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Told to drop a few pounds to take some weight off his surgically repaired left knee, O’Neal cut sugar, bread and dairy products out of his diet for eight weeks. The Toronto Raptors center called it “the biggest challenge” of his offseason.
“They felt that it would be important for me, because I was really top-heavy the last two years, to trim down and take some of the pressure off my knees,” O’Neal said Monday at Raptors media day. “They told me 10-12 pounds would be the ideal weight for my knee to stay healthy, to be able to actually elevate and get my explosion back. I did that, and I feel exactly what they were talking about.”
Still, the steady diet of broccoli, carrots and green beans grew a little tiresome, leaving O’Neal longing for his favorite treats.
“When you wake up in the morning, you don’t want to eat oatmeal with no sugar everyday,” O’Neal said. “You want the French toast, you want the pancakes, you want that stuff. I struggled through that but I got through it.”
O’Neal, acquired from Indiana in a July trade that sent point guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and draft pick Roy Hibbert to the Pacers, missed 40 games last season because of lingering pain from a torn ligament in his left knee that was surgically repaired the previous summer.
The dietary regimen and the hours in the gym were part of O’Neal’s desire to pay back Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo for providing him with a fresh start.
“Bryan really stuck his neck out for me,” O’Neal said. “I’m willing to do what I need to do to make him look good about the trade.”
Colangelo said O’Neal’s rebounding ability “changes the entire dynamic of what we’ve got,” making this the best squad he’s had since joining the Raptors in February, 2006 “In terms of core talent, yes, I’d have to think that this is the best,” Colangelo said. “At every position, we’ve got the talent that we feel we can compete.”
Having reached his target weight, the slimmed-down O’Neal allowed himself a reward.
“I had two cupcakes,” he said. “Very good. Two Red Devil cupcakes. I enjoyed it.”
His sweet tooth satisfied and his body in shape, O’Neal will open his first training camp with the Raptors on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda is figuring out how best to team up with U.S. Olympian Chris Bosh in the Toronto frontcourt.
“I think we’re all excited, just in the potential that he brings to this team,” Bosh said of O’Neal, a six-time All-Star. “If we get on the same page, I think we can do a lot of big things.”
Bosh has only played against O’Neal during informal scrimmages this week, but that will change when training camp begins in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Cassell back to help Celtics defend NBA title
BOSTON (AP)—Of all the issues Doc Rivers had to deal with in his first summer as an NBA champion—replacing the free agents who left, working on his golf game, figuring out what to wear to the White House—there’s one thing that never came up.
“I can’t imagine even seeing a laid-back Kevin Garnett,” Rivers said Monday. “I don’t think that will happen. So I don’t worry about that part.”
The Boston Celtics coach gathered with his title-winning team for media day at its practice facility, where a shiny white 2008 championship banner is already covering the empty spot where Rivers pointed a spotlight last year— just in case anyone didn’t get the point. It was the NBA-record 17th title for the team, the first since 1986, and no one in the organization wants to go through a similar drought before Banner No. 18.
“You do not get to a level and then step backward,” Garnett said. “It will probably be the hardest thing we’ve done, other than getting the first championship.”
The Celtics won last season after one of the most dramatic offseason overhauls in NBA history, bringing in Garnett and Ray Allen to join with Paul Pierce in a new Big Three that managed, in its first year together, to add to the title cache amassed by previous Boston legends like Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.
But the original Big Three didn’t stop at one—they won in 1981, ‘84 and ‘86. And, after showing last season what a little championship hunger can do, the new threesome wants more, too.
“You look around at all the banners, all the great teams, all the great players that have been here, they did it more than once,” Pierce said. “That’s what it’s going to take to get to that next level with the other Celtics greats.”
The team begins that effort on Tuesday when they begin training camp in earnest at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. It’s not exactly Rome, where the Celtics trained last year as part of an effort to bring all of the new players together, but the mission is different this time, too.
“The bonding is there,” Rivers said. “When you do something we’ve done, and we went on that long journey. That can’t go away. I don’t think we need to go to Europe again.”
Rivers said the team had to deal with the pressure of being the favorite all last season, when it won its first eight games, opened 20-2 and cruised to the best record in the NBA.
“We were on every magazine cover you could be on without actually doing something,” he said. “At least this year we’ve earned that right.”
They’ll collect the rest of their spoils before the season opener on Oct. 28 against Cleveland and LeBron James, whom Boston dispatched in the Eastern Conference semifinals in an epic seven-game series. Past Celtics greats, and NBA commissioner David Stern, are scheduled to be in attendance when another banner is raised above the Boston Garden court and the players will get their championship rings.
Then, if Rivers and the Big Three have their way, there will be no more talking about last season.
“The three of us are not going to be answering a lot of questions dealing with ‘08,” Garnett said.
After spending part of his summer talking to coaches—many of them retired, or from other sports—who have won back-to-back titles, Rivers knows what he has to do, too.
“We need to shake ourselves out of the parade route,” Rivers said. “We won because we were a hardworking team. We have to get back to that.”
Also Monday, backup point guard Sam Cassell showed up for media day and signed a new contract.
“I can’t imagine even seeing a laid-back Kevin Garnett,” Rivers said Monday. “I don’t think that will happen. So I don’t worry about that part.”
The Boston Celtics coach gathered with his title-winning team for media day at its practice facility, where a shiny white 2008 championship banner is already covering the empty spot where Rivers pointed a spotlight last year— just in case anyone didn’t get the point. It was the NBA-record 17th title for the team, the first since 1986, and no one in the organization wants to go through a similar drought before Banner No. 18.
“You do not get to a level and then step backward,” Garnett said. “It will probably be the hardest thing we’ve done, other than getting the first championship.”
The Celtics won last season after one of the most dramatic offseason overhauls in NBA history, bringing in Garnett and Ray Allen to join with Paul Pierce in a new Big Three that managed, in its first year together, to add to the title cache amassed by previous Boston legends like Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.
But the original Big Three didn’t stop at one—they won in 1981, ‘84 and ‘86. And, after showing last season what a little championship hunger can do, the new threesome wants more, too.
“You look around at all the banners, all the great teams, all the great players that have been here, they did it more than once,” Pierce said. “That’s what it’s going to take to get to that next level with the other Celtics greats.”
The team begins that effort on Tuesday when they begin training camp in earnest at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. It’s not exactly Rome, where the Celtics trained last year as part of an effort to bring all of the new players together, but the mission is different this time, too.
“The bonding is there,” Rivers said. “When you do something we’ve done, and we went on that long journey. That can’t go away. I don’t think we need to go to Europe again.”
Rivers said the team had to deal with the pressure of being the favorite all last season, when it won its first eight games, opened 20-2 and cruised to the best record in the NBA.
“We were on every magazine cover you could be on without actually doing something,” he said. “At least this year we’ve earned that right.”
They’ll collect the rest of their spoils before the season opener on Oct. 28 against Cleveland and LeBron James, whom Boston dispatched in the Eastern Conference semifinals in an epic seven-game series. Past Celtics greats, and NBA commissioner David Stern, are scheduled to be in attendance when another banner is raised above the Boston Garden court and the players will get their championship rings.
Then, if Rivers and the Big Three have their way, there will be no more talking about last season.
“The three of us are not going to be answering a lot of questions dealing with ‘08,” Garnett said.
After spending part of his summer talking to coaches—many of them retired, or from other sports—who have won back-to-back titles, Rivers knows what he has to do, too.
“We need to shake ourselves out of the parade route,” Rivers said. “We won because we were a hardworking team. We have to get back to that.”
Also Monday, backup point guard Sam Cassell showed up for media day and signed a new contract.
Mavs’ Howard apologizes for troublesome behavior
DALLAS (AP)—Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard took a first step toward repairing his damaged reputation Monday, saying he was sorry for disrespecting the national anthem.
“I’d like to say that I’m truly and really am sorry for everything that’s happened in the last five months,” Howard said in a statement before taking questions from reporters on the first day of Mavericks training camp. “This is not the way I carry myself, not how I want to be portrayed. I’m sorry to everybody I’ve offended. I’m upset with myself and the way I’ve acted.”
In a video posted recently on YouTube, Howard was shown at a charity flag football game. As the national anthem plays in the background, Howard approaches a camera and says: “‘The Star Spangled Banner’ is going on right now. I don’t even celebrate that (expletive). I’m black.”
The video, which was widely viewed on the Internet, prompted blistering criticisms, including some racially charged e-mails that owner Mark Cuban posted on his blog.
In his first public appearance since the video was posted, Howard said he loves his country.
“It was me joking around,” he said. “Guys were out there making fun and I decided to get along in it. I wasn’t using my head. I guess the valuable lesson I did learn is that words really do hurt. You’re held accountable for what you say.
“That’s not me. … I went to military school. I have friends that served in the military. I know how it is to wake up and salute the flag. The national anthem every game, I have my hand over my heart.”
Howard had another off-court incident during the off-season when he was arrested in July after police said he was drag racing at 94 mph in a 55 mph zone.
He said he knows that there will be some fan backlash about his troubled summer.
“I’ll try to win them back,” he said. “Whatever it takes me to do that, I’ll do it.”
Howard also was criticized last season for saying in a radio interview during a first-round playoff series against New Orleans that he occasionally smokes marijuana. Later that same series, he angered coach Avery Johnson by throwing himself a birthday party after a Game 4 loss to the Hornets.
“It was a rough summer for him, but I believe in his heart he’s a good guy,” teammate Dirk Nowitzki said. “He just made some bad decisions.”
Howard said another mistake he made was not addressing the national anthem controversy when it first surfaced.
“I didn’t do anything to correct it. I let a lot of stuff go,” he said. “It wasn’t me. I’m trying to move forward. This (the press conference) is the perfect opportunity. Everybody’s here. There’s nothing to hide. I made a mistake. I’m ready to move forward.”
Rick Carlisle, who was hired as Mavericks coach after Johnson was fired following Dallas’ first-round playoff exit, visited Howard at his North Carolina home during the summer. Carlisle expects a strong season from Howard.
“I know he’s going to be motivated both on the floor and in terms of how he represents this franchise,” Carlisle said.
Howard, who enters his sixth NBA season, averaged 19.9 points and seven rebounds last season.
“I’d like to say that I’m truly and really am sorry for everything that’s happened in the last five months,” Howard said in a statement before taking questions from reporters on the first day of Mavericks training camp. “This is not the way I carry myself, not how I want to be portrayed. I’m sorry to everybody I’ve offended. I’m upset with myself and the way I’ve acted.”
In a video posted recently on YouTube, Howard was shown at a charity flag football game. As the national anthem plays in the background, Howard approaches a camera and says: “‘The Star Spangled Banner’ is going on right now. I don’t even celebrate that (expletive). I’m black.”
The video, which was widely viewed on the Internet, prompted blistering criticisms, including some racially charged e-mails that owner Mark Cuban posted on his blog.
In his first public appearance since the video was posted, Howard said he loves his country.
“It was me joking around,” he said. “Guys were out there making fun and I decided to get along in it. I wasn’t using my head. I guess the valuable lesson I did learn is that words really do hurt. You’re held accountable for what you say.
“That’s not me. … I went to military school. I have friends that served in the military. I know how it is to wake up and salute the flag. The national anthem every game, I have my hand over my heart.”
Howard had another off-court incident during the off-season when he was arrested in July after police said he was drag racing at 94 mph in a 55 mph zone.
He said he knows that there will be some fan backlash about his troubled summer.
“I’ll try to win them back,” he said. “Whatever it takes me to do that, I’ll do it.”
Howard also was criticized last season for saying in a radio interview during a first-round playoff series against New Orleans that he occasionally smokes marijuana. Later that same series, he angered coach Avery Johnson by throwing himself a birthday party after a Game 4 loss to the Hornets.
“It was a rough summer for him, but I believe in his heart he’s a good guy,” teammate Dirk Nowitzki said. “He just made some bad decisions.”
Howard said another mistake he made was not addressing the national anthem controversy when it first surfaced.
“I didn’t do anything to correct it. I let a lot of stuff go,” he said. “It wasn’t me. I’m trying to move forward. This (the press conference) is the perfect opportunity. Everybody’s here. There’s nothing to hide. I made a mistake. I’m ready to move forward.”
Rick Carlisle, who was hired as Mavericks coach after Johnson was fired following Dallas’ first-round playoff exit, visited Howard at his North Carolina home during the summer. Carlisle expects a strong season from Howard.
“I know he’s going to be motivated both on the floor and in terms of how he represents this franchise,” Carlisle said.
Howard, who enters his sixth NBA season, averaged 19.9 points and seven rebounds last season.
McGrady says shoulder arthritic, knee slow to heal
HOUSTON (AP)—The Houston Rockets, buzzing about the arrival of Ron Artest, already have injury concerns with Tracy McGrady.
Houston’s leading scorer said Monday that his left shoulder is arthritic and will require surgery after this season. He also said his left knee is healing slower than expected from surgery in the spring.
McGrady sprained his shoulder against Sacramento on March 24, and wore padding to protect it for the rest of the season. He had surgery in May to clear loose tissue in his shoulder and knee. He said his knee is “probably 75-80 percent” healthy and will take another two months to fully heal.
McGrady said an MRI revealed the arthritis in his shoulder.
“That’s something I’ve got to deal with again this season,” said McGrady, who averaged 21.6 points last season and was selected third-team all-NBA. “My knee should be ready to go by opening night.”
McGrady said the shoulder injury was not going to keep him out of practices or games, but added that, “it’s going to bother me.”
On Tuesday, the Rockets hold their first practice with Artest after picking him up in an August trade with Sacramento. Houston went 55-27 last season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
Artest adds versatility on both ends—a lockdown defender who can match up with guards or forwards and a multidimensional scorer who should take some of the offensive burden off McGrady and Yao Ming.
McGrady had to handle more of the offensive load when Yao broke his left foot in late February. He’s averaged more than 21 points for the last eight seasons, but is 0-7 in playoff series.
In Artest, he may have finally found the perfect offensive complement.
“I know I get criticized a lot for not leading my team out of the playoffs,” McGrady said. “It’s hard when you don’t have those pieces that you need to elevate you to that next level. Now, I have that and we’ll see what happens.”
Artest can also step into the role Shane Battier played for the Rockets last season, defending the opposing team’s top scorer. Artest said he was asked to score more for the Kings last season and that coach Reggie Theus told him to ease up on defense to conserve energy.
Houston’s leading scorer said Monday that his left shoulder is arthritic and will require surgery after this season. He also said his left knee is healing slower than expected from surgery in the spring.
McGrady sprained his shoulder against Sacramento on March 24, and wore padding to protect it for the rest of the season. He had surgery in May to clear loose tissue in his shoulder and knee. He said his knee is “probably 75-80 percent” healthy and will take another two months to fully heal.
McGrady said an MRI revealed the arthritis in his shoulder.
“That’s something I’ve got to deal with again this season,” said McGrady, who averaged 21.6 points last season and was selected third-team all-NBA. “My knee should be ready to go by opening night.”
McGrady said the shoulder injury was not going to keep him out of practices or games, but added that, “it’s going to bother me.”
On Tuesday, the Rockets hold their first practice with Artest after picking him up in an August trade with Sacramento. Houston went 55-27 last season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
Artest adds versatility on both ends—a lockdown defender who can match up with guards or forwards and a multidimensional scorer who should take some of the offensive burden off McGrady and Yao Ming.
McGrady had to handle more of the offensive load when Yao broke his left foot in late February. He’s averaged more than 21 points for the last eight seasons, but is 0-7 in playoff series.
In Artest, he may have finally found the perfect offensive complement.
“I know I get criticized a lot for not leading my team out of the playoffs,” McGrady said. “It’s hard when you don’t have those pieces that you need to elevate you to that next level. Now, I have that and we’ll see what happens.”
Artest can also step into the role Shane Battier played for the Rockets last season, defending the opposing team’s top scorer. Artest said he was asked to score more for the Kings last season and that coach Reggie Theus told him to ease up on defense to conserve energy.
Spurs’ Ginobili continues surgery recovery
SAN ANTONIO (AP)—There was no noticeable limp when Manu Ginobili walked into the San Antonio Spurs training facility Monday.
Even better, there was no sign of bad feelings from his teammates.
Ginobili, who had surgery on his left ankle in early September, could miss at least two months of the season. Though off crutches and out of a protective boot, he’s still got plenty of rehab.
“It could be a blessing he’s gotten operated on, and (surgeons) went in there and cleaned things out,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Had he not hurt it in the Olympics, he probably would have done it 15, 25, 35 games into the season.
“His ankle probably would be in better shape now than it’s been in years.”
Popovich had advised the 31-year-old Ginobili not to play for Argentina in China after he hurt the ankle during the Western Conference semifinals against New Orleans, then aggravated the injury in the Western finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs have delayed contract extension talks until Ginobili recovers from surgery. The sixth-year guard has two seasons remaining on his contract.
“They told me eight to 12 weeks, so I’m looking for eight,” he said. “I would like to make it for the beginning of the season, but I know they are going to be very cautious.”
And Ginobili, who helped Argentina to a bronze medal, defended his decision to play. Though Popovich advised him not to play, he did not tell Ginobili he could not play. And he sent a trainer to monitor Ginobili’s progress while the national team prepared in Argentina.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ginobili said. “I did everything the Spurs told me to. They gave me the go-ahead to play, and I did.”
Teammates Tim Duncan and Tony Parker recognize the team will have to make adjustments while Ginobili sits.
“Everybody is going to have to step up their game,” Parker said.
The Spurs lost Brent Barry to free agency, so Michael Finley might start in Ginobili’s place. And the team also added free agent guard Roger Mason Jr., who averaged nearly 10 points per game and started nine games for the Washington Wizards while Gilbert Arenas was out with an injury.
Even better, there was no sign of bad feelings from his teammates.
Ginobili, who had surgery on his left ankle in early September, could miss at least two months of the season. Though off crutches and out of a protective boot, he’s still got plenty of rehab.
“It could be a blessing he’s gotten operated on, and (surgeons) went in there and cleaned things out,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Had he not hurt it in the Olympics, he probably would have done it 15, 25, 35 games into the season.
“His ankle probably would be in better shape now than it’s been in years.”
Popovich had advised the 31-year-old Ginobili not to play for Argentina in China after he hurt the ankle during the Western Conference semifinals against New Orleans, then aggravated the injury in the Western finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs have delayed contract extension talks until Ginobili recovers from surgery. The sixth-year guard has two seasons remaining on his contract.
“They told me eight to 12 weeks, so I’m looking for eight,” he said. “I would like to make it for the beginning of the season, but I know they are going to be very cautious.”
And Ginobili, who helped Argentina to a bronze medal, defended his decision to play. Though Popovich advised him not to play, he did not tell Ginobili he could not play. And he sent a trainer to monitor Ginobili’s progress while the national team prepared in Argentina.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ginobili said. “I did everything the Spurs told me to. They gave me the go-ahead to play, and I did.”
Teammates Tim Duncan and Tony Parker recognize the team will have to make adjustments while Ginobili sits.
“Everybody is going to have to step up their game,” Parker said.
The Spurs lost Brent Barry to free agency, so Michael Finley might start in Ginobili’s place. And the team also added free agent guard Roger Mason Jr., who averaged nearly 10 points per game and started nine games for the Washington Wizards while Gilbert Arenas was out with an injury.
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